In October 2024, the average prudential balanced portfolio returned -0.2% (September 2024: 1.8%). The top performer is NAM Coronation Balanced Plus Fund, with 0.08%, while Allan Gray Namibia Balanced Fund, with -0.5%, takes the bottom spot. NAM Coronation Balanced Plus Fund took the top spot for the three months, outperforming the ‘average’ by roughly 1.7%. Allan Gray Namibia Balanced Fund underperformed the ‘average’ by 2.0% on the other end of the scale. Note that these returns are before (gross of) asset management fees.

The Monthly Review of Portfolio Performance to 31 October 2024 reviews portfolio performances and provides insightful analyses.

A guide for investors through uncertain times.

When you live in Namibia, the biggest portion of your wealth is invariably in Namibia, a bit in South Africa, and the balance is likely in the traditional offshore investment markets. If you have liquid capital you want to invest, you should be concerned about a major confrontation looming between the 'global West' and the 'global East' as evidenced by the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East. Should it come to a global conflict between the West and the East, your offshore capital will become inaccessible because of capital controls. Your offshore investment could also face severe impairment from war causes, for being invested in countries that are a party to the global conflict. Hopefully, southern African countries will not become parties to the global conflict which will likely happen in the next five years. It would conceivably carry on for about five years. The outcome would be -

1. a stalemate between the parties resulting in the establishment of a more balanced new world order not dominated by the US, while global multilateral institutions such as the UN, the IMF and the World Bank would emancipate from the US hegemony;
2. the global West and the US hegemony prevail and would more forcefully impose the capitalist system and the US hegemony on the rest of the world.
3. the global East prevails and would forcefully impose its economic interest on the rest of the world, implying a new international economic order being established over many years as the existing global multilateral institutions would be restructured and re-orientated.

Given the current geopolitical landscape, approaching one’s investments focusing on regional stability, defensive asset classes, and sectors that may remain resilient is prudent... Read paragraph 6 of the Monthly Review of Portfolio Performance to 31 October 2024 for our views on investment markets and global political developments. It also reviews portfolio performances and provides insightful analyses.